VIDEO: The Tellico Village Fire Department is unique in a few ways.
First, they say they serve a unique community of people that is growing in age and growing older. Second, they have one of the fastest response times in the state with an average of 4 minutes, compared to a national average of 6 minutes. The Tellico Village Fire Department is made up of retired volunteers, all of whom are over the age of 50. The median age for these firefighters is 68, about 30 years older than the average.
"There hasn't been a single 911 call in the last five years that trained personnel have not shown up at the door to help," Assistant Chief Bill Ballinger said. "That is not the norm and every volunteer fire department across the country. I've seen people park their boat, walk off the golf course in the middle of a round a golf."